Master Sgt. Benjamin Owens models the Army Combat Uniform using the new Operational Camouflage Pattern. (Army)

The Army plans to field its new combat uniform camouflage pattern as early as April, and deployed airmen will wear it when stationed with Army units in Afghanistan and Africa.

“We plan to continue partnering with the Army during their transition to the combat version of this uniform,” Air Force spokeswoman Rose Richeson said in an email on Aug 27. She added, however, that the Air Force’s rollout may not be on the Army’s timeline.

The Army officially announced in late July its move for the new uniform pattern — referred to as Scorpion W2, now termed Operational Camouflage — and the Air Force is letting the Army determine when deployed airmen will get the uniform.

The rollout remains in the Army’s hands, Richeson said.

The change would only apply to airmen wearing the MultiCam, officially called the Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, or OCP.

The Army plans to transition to this new camo over time, phasing out the unpopular gray-green Universal Combat Pattern of the Army combat uniform, or ACU, and saying the phase-out of the older uniform was “fiscally responsible.”

Air Force officials have stressed that there is no plan to change or replace the airman battle uniform, or ABU, pattern, worn stateside and inside the wire.

The name “Operational Camouflage Pattern” is intended to emphasize that the pattern’s use extends beyond Afghanistan to all combatant commands, sources told Army Times.